SNP remains ‘most popular party’ - poll

The SNP remain the most popular party in the Scottish Parliament, according to a new poll. Picture: Getty

The SNP remains Scotland’s most popular political party, a new poll has revealed.

An Ipsos MORI poll conducted for STV shows that more voters would choose to vote for the SNP than any other political party,

Forty-one per cent of voters polled said they would vote for the SNP. Scottish Labour were the second-most popular party in the poll, with 37 per cent of voters saying they would vote for Johann Lamont’s party. Both SNP and Scottish Labour saw an increase in voter popularity, according to the poll: the SNP were up two points since May, while Labour were up four points from the same period.

Only 13 per cent of people would vote for the Conservatives - three points down since May - and the Liberal Democrats also suffered from a slump, with only seven per cent saying they would vote for them, down a point from four months ago.

The poll also found Nicola Sturgeon to be the most popular figure in the Scottish Parliament. The Deputy First Minister held a net satisfaction score (the proportion who are satisfied minus the proportion who are dissatisfied) of +21, up seven points since May.

Alex Salmond has also become more popular since last May, with a rating of +8, six points higher than this time four months ago.

Better Together leader Alistair Darling has a net satisfaction rating of +5, also up 7 points since May.

Ms Lamont is on +6, up one point, though a third of Scots still do not know enough about the Scottish Labour leader to provide a rating. The other Scottish party leaders all maintained or increased their net satisfaction ratings: Green Party leader Patrick Harvie is on +11, though three in five Scots do not know enough about him; Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has a neutral satisfaction rating, up 10 points; and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie is on -5, up 4 points.

David Cameron’s approval rating continues to improve in Scotland as his net satisfaction rating increases by 11 points to -27. The Prime Minister is also the most popular leader among supporters of his own party, with a net satisfaction rating of +66 among Conservative supporters.

Christopher McLean, Senior Researcher at Ipsos MORI Scotland, said: “Over two years on from their landslide victory in the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections, the SNP remain the most popular party among voters in Scotland. Indeed, the SNP’s popularity is aided by the high levels of satisfaction with the party’s leading figures as both the First Minister and Deputy First Minister continue to achieve high approval ratings. Scottish Labour continue to make progress under Johann Lamont and are close behind the SNP. However, a third of voters remain unable to rate the Scottish Labour leader’s performance, suggesting that more could be done to improve her profile among voters.”